Article ID: CBB000932515

Between Meaning Culture and Presence Effects: Contemporary Biomedical Objects as a Challenge to Museums (2009)

unapi

Söderqvist, Thomas (Author)
Bencard, Adam (Author)
Mordhors, Camilla (Author)


Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Volume: 40
Pages: 431--438


Publication Date: 2009
Edition Details: Part of a special issue: On Scientific Instruments
Language: English

The acquisition and display of material artefacts is the raison d'être of museums. But what constitutes a museum artefact? Contemporary medicine (biomedicine) is increasingly producing artefacts that do not fit the traditional museological understanding of what constitutes a material, tangible artefact. Museums today are therefore caught in a paradox. On the one hand, medical science and technologies are having an increasing pervasive impact on the way contemporary life is lived and understood and is therefore a central part of the contemporary world. On the other hand, the objects involved in medical diagnostics and therapies are becoming increasingly invisible and intangible and therefore seem to have no role to play as artefacts in a museum context. Consequently, museums are at risk of becoming alienated from an increasingly important part of contemporary society. This essay elaborates the paradox by employing Gumbrecht's (2004) distinction between `presence' and `meaning'.

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Article Taub, Liba (2009) On Scientific Instruments. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (p. 337). unapi

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Authors & Contributors
Lourenço, Marta C.
Granato, Marcus
Hansen, Peter A.
Peavitt, Helen
Wouter F. Renaud
Gibbon, Richard
Concepts
Museums
Artifacts
Material culture
Collections
Exhibits
Locomotives, steam
Time Periods
21st century
20th century
19th century
20th century, early
Modern
17th century
Places
United States
Great Britain
Europe
Brazil
Northwest Passage
Antarctica
Institutions
Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.)
British Museum
Science Museum, London
National Maritime Museum (Great Britain)
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